Obituary of Martha Willerton Bruce

Martha Willerton Bruce died two days after her 98th birthday at The Haven in Pineville, North Carolina. Born in 1919 in Houghton Michigan, she grew up on a farm in Ithaca New York and graduated from Cornell University in 1940. She held a master's degree from The University of Connecticut. Her beloved parents, Arthur Barrett and Mabel Miller Willerton, sisters Helen and Marjorie and brothers Arthur and John, predeceased her. She was married 49 years to Dexter Mitchell Bruce until his death in 1992. She is survived by her son Stephen Dexter Bruce, PhD, his wife Abigail Jane, grandson Ransom and husband Michael, grandson Benjamin, wife Erin, great grandchildren Jaden and Ellie; and by her daughter Caroline Cooney, granddaughter Louisa, great grandchildren Elizabeth and Margaret; granddaughter Sayre and husband Jochen Franke, great grandchildren Maximus and Simon; and grandson Harold. She was Marth, Sis, Mom, Grandma and Great Grandma, beloved of her family, and made her mark in church, schools and community. She taught history at Brian McMahon High School in Norwalk and at Greenwich High School, where she was also a teachers' union organizer. She loved reading, bridge, painting watercolor, travel, current events and most of all, her grandchildren. She loved Old Greenwich, Tod's Point, and First Congregational Church of Old Greenwich. Later she and Dexter were members of Westbrook Congregational Church where she sang in the choir. She later lived at Chester Village West and finally North Carolina. The family owes great thanks to the staff at The Haven in Pineville, North Carolina, where she was lived and was cared for four years. The memorial service will be at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, August 15, at the First Congregational Church in Westbrook. Burial will be private. In lieu of flowers, donations to the church or to the Westbrook Public Library may be made.